Rocket League Champions
by Rocket League Fan
Summary: Team Nitro is on their way to the Rocket League Championships, but the death of a close friend and simmering sexual tension between teammates may get in the way.
1. Chapter 1: Team Nitro and the Car Wash

The ball bounced off the side of the wall. Breakout could see the opportunity presenting itself. In less than a second, the white sphere would center itself nicely above the goal. The opposing team had messed up their positioning and was on the other side of the court. It was time. Breakout jumped into the air and angled himself up at 75 degrees and let his large rockets fire. The nitrous trail followed him up as he hood-butted the ball into the goal. The explosion propelled him clear to the other side of the field as the crowd went wild. Breakout did a barrel roll, landed on his wheels, and skidded to a stop.

"Holy shit Break!" Gizmo yelled as he drove up to Breakout. He opened his car door and slapped Breakout on the trunk. "Nice shot! I can't believe we won that game! Coach would be proud."

Breakout was shy, but something about the moment made him come out of his shell."Y'know, yeah, that was pretty savage."

"Savage!" Merc yelled. He jumped up and down in excitement. "You couldn't have done that any better! We destroyed them!" He did a backflip. "Nice shot!"

"Thanks!" Breakout exclaimed.

Team Nitro had had a winning season. There wasn't any doubt about it; they had risen from the bottom all the way to the top and nothing seemed to be slowing them down. Now that they had defeated Team Chrome, they qualified for the the World Rocket League Championship in Neo Tokyo. Breakout couldn't believe his success: he started out ranked Prospect 1, but after months of practice the car found himself on a championship level team. The world was theirs. And with Merc and Gizmo playing alongside him, he felt like nothing could stop them. Confetti poured out from the ceiling as they drove out of the field and into the locker rooms.

"So what do we do know?" Merc asked, as he changed his tires. "We're on our way to Neo Tokyo, but that starts in a couple months. What are we supposed to do in the meantime?"

Breakout mused his answer as he filled his gas tank. "Well, I guess we practice. There's some new aerial training we can work on. Coach was asking us to complete that before… before the accident. I think we owe him that."

"We owe him a lot." Merc said. "We…we have to win for coach." A bit of window washing fluid dripped down his windshield. It had been an emotional season.

"Yeah, let's talk about it in the car wash," Gizmo said, interrupting. "We've got places to go. We've got a press conference in half an hour. That's barely enough time to clean up for the reporters."

"Yeah, for sure." Breakout said as he topped himself off. "Let's go."

Breakout, Gizmo, and Merc drove into the car wash. The brushes and steam wiped the dirt and mud off their shiny, paint coated bodies. Breakout stole a glance at Gizmo in the corner. Water dripped off his tight, curvy trunk and swirled into the drain.

"Checking me out?

Breakout panicked. Gizmo had caught him looking.

"No, no it was just a…I thought I saw something."

"You know, there's nothing to be ashamed of." Gizmo said as he drove up to Breakout. "It's been a long day." He opened up a car door and ran it up Breakout's smooth body. "I could use a little…tune up, if you know what I mean."

What was this feeling? Breakout was a young car…a 1997 model B. He was young and inexperienced. He'd only had one lover before: coach. But the feeling of Gizmo's door running up and down his trunk was making him feel….excited. Hot oil started pumping through his body. His engine revved.

Merc stood in the corner of the car wash, hood open in disbelief. "Guys…get a room…I mean… c'mon."

"We're just lonely cars in a lonely world, Merc." Gizmo said. "Live a little." He jumped on top of Breakout and started driving back and forth on top of him, his exhaust rubbing up against Breakout's trunk. Breakout let out a moan. It felt…so good.

Merc didn't know what to do. He felt like he should look away. But the sight of Breakout and Gizmo going at it was doing something to him. He could feel his engine temperature rising…his oil pressure building to up too 200 PSI. It was rising to dangerous levels…he'd have to release some soon.

"Get off of me!" Breakout exclaimed suddenly. "This…this is wrong! This isn't what coach would want!"

Gizmo jumped off and backed away in reverse. "I'm sorry. I didn't mean to…to hurt you."

Merc let out a sigh. Things were just beginning to be get exciting. The van pretended he hadn't been watching and drove away, leaving Breakout and Gizmo time to settle things.

"It's just…so hard. I'm sorry. I shouldn't have let you in my trunk." Breakout said. "I'm confused. I thought that once we won the game, it would take away the pain of coach dying…dying, right in front me. I like you, but…it's too soon. It's wrong."

Gizmo looked down, disappointed.. "I know you and coach had a…special relationship, but I thought that maybe now with things moving forward like they are, I…I would have a chance."

"Maybe later." Breakout said. "But first things first, we need to get ready for the Neo Tokyo Championship."

Gizmo and Breakout looked at each other before leaving the car wash, their wet bodies glistening in the electric lights. But for now, their carnal passions would have to wait for another day.


	2. Chapter 2: Ethanol Abuse

Merc swung around the corner of the Beckwith Park Rocket League arena and drifted into the ball; his fat, juicy trunk hitting the sphere and centering it perfectly in front of Team Diesel's goal. Gizmo saw the opportunity and leapt up into the air. He realized that he had slightly miscalculated his trajectory however and turned slightly to the left and let his rockets fire. The boost redirected the vehicle towards the projected location of the ball, but it still wasn't enough. At the last moment, Gizmo did a barrel roll to the side and hit the ball. For one moment that seemed like an eternity, the ball flew through the air towards the side of the court. It bounced off the side of the goal wall and went in.

It was a perfectly timed shot, as if Gizmo and Merc's minds and car-bodies had merged into one larger, car-body—but in different ones, but still, perfectly working together. Breakout couldn't believe they had managed that shot. It was as if someone had thrown a ping pong ball across the room , off a lamp, and into a red dixie cup in one of those youtube videos. It was so cool, but you knew that they'd probably done that shot a thousand times to make it once. But this time, he knew they hadn't done it a thousand times. Just the one time, because he'd seen it happen right in front of him.

"GOAL" The ref shouted from the stands as the ball exploded, propelling the cars across the court. Gizmo, Merc, and Breakout drove up and gave each other high fives with their car doors while Team Diesel drove away to lick their wounds. Team Nitro and Team Diesel had these friendly skirmishes every two weeks to stay sharp between official Rocket League Championship games. With the Neo Tokyo Championships coming up soon, they needed every advantage they could get. The competition would be pushing in from every side, aiming for their goals. They had to fight back. They had to stay sharp. They had to give it all they had. They had to win. They had to win for coach.

"What a game." Gizmo said as they drove into the car wash. "We really hit 'em with the Hein."

"Haha, yeah." Merc said. "More like I hit them with MY Hein." He did a donut and let out a glorious yell.

Gizmo laughed as he drove into the car wash at Merc's antics, leaving Breakout and Merc alone in the Rocket League garage. Breakout's engine hummed as he remembered that amazing shot Merc had made with his fat, delectable bumper. Suddenly, Breakout realized that even though he had Gizmo's heart, the love of one car wasn't enough. He needed two cars to be complete. Gizmo was yesterday's soup of the day; and after rejecting his advances in the car wash Breakout realized that Gizmo was needy and overeager. Even if the car was good for fooling around with in the wash after a particularly intense game of Rocket League, Breakout knew he needed something more to be happy. Maybe Merc could be that something more. He took a deep breath and shyly approached the van.

"What are you doing tonight?" Breakout asked.

Merc did a double take. Did Breakout know? " Oh, just uh, going out with someone."

"Oh, I didn't know you were seeing someone." Breakout muttered, disappointed."Is it serious?"

"Yeah, I just started dating again. It's been going pretty well." Marc said, keeping things vague. He didn't want Breakout to suspect anything…he didn't want him to learn that Gizmo and him had been fooling around behind Breakout's back. Their nights of passions in Gizmo's garage had been a thing to behold. The exploration of each other's engines, the secret tune ups, the rim jobs. They knew it was wrong to…cheat, somehow….behind Breakout's back, but it felt so right.

Breakout held back a drop of window washing fluid at his bitter disappointment. He didn't realize that he'd had such strong feelings for Merc. Maybe it was only because he couldn't have him that the emotional reaction was so strong. Nonetheless, he turned away to hide the tear. "It's alright….I…I should have known." As he drove away, he tuned his car radio to the saddest song he knew, "Someone Like You" by Adele.

A jolt from his car battery tore through Merc's engine as the disappointed car drove off. Did Breakout know? Did Breakout suspect what was going on behind his back?

Gizmo drove out from the car wash, his clean, shiny body reflecting light like a sexy disco ball on wheels. He pulled up next to Merc and ran his car door up the van's body. "How about we take this back to my garage?" Gizmo said in a breathy voice. "I just filled my gas tank with premium fuel, and I'm ready to go from 0 to 100 with you."

Merc agreed. After that game, he was ready to blow off some steam too. As they turned onto the highway with all the other cars though, doubt crept into his mind about whether or not what he was doing was right. So much was on the line. Car's didn't live forever. Did he want to spend his time screwing someone behind a teammate's back? Would this love tear their team apart, or bring it closer than ever before?

What would coach think?

Across town, Breakout cracked open a barrel of Ethanol fuel and started guzzling. It had been a shitty day. Even if they'd won the game, he'd come home to his garage alone, and that was never a win. As the intoxicating fuel worked its way through his engine and his vision started to blur, his mind drifted back to a moment not too far back when everything had changed for Team Nitro. Breakout remembered it as if it had happened yesterday.

It had been six months.

It was a stormy night on the Mannsfield Rocket League arena. Coach was on the side of the field cheering on his team as Team Nitro faced off against Team Rockets.

"Nice shot!" He screamed from the stands. "Merc, get in there and hit that ball! Gizmo, get that boost and get ready to take the shot! Breakout, stay back and play the D!"

Breakout swung around and raced back towards their goal as Merc and Gizmo played offense together. " I can't wait for tonight." Breakout shouted as he passed coach. They were lovers.

"Me either." Coach responded over the mic.

"Cut it out!" Merc said. "Y'know we can hear you on this line. Get a room!"

"Haha we will." Breakout responded as he positioned himself in the center of their goal.

Gizmo just laughed. He drove up the wall towards the ball and jumped off the side, knocking the ball towards Team Rocket's goal. Breakout launched himself up into the air and got ready to take the shot. They hadn't planned it this way, but improvising was the most important part of winning games in Rocket League. If there was one thing you could be sure of in a good game, it was that nothing ever went according to plan.

Team Rocket wasn't going to let them score that easy. As team captain, Backfire knew he had to set an example for his team and clear that ball. And he wasn't going to let Team Nitro score one more goal. He was tired of losing to this team. The cooperation and enthusiasm was heightened by some kind of energy between them that he couldn't quite put a finger on. It made him uneasy…it made him hate them.

Backfire jumped towards the ball and cleared the white sphere towards the northern wall. Road Hog boosted and hit the ball one more time, sending it soaring towards Team Nitro's southern corner. Breakout jumped towards the sphere as it bounced towards their goal but missed. Unobstructed, the ball went in and exploded. Team Rocket had just scored. With less than a minute left on the clock, they would need to mount a comeback.

"My bad…" Breakout said as he drove up. "My fault."

"Nice shot!" They heard Backfire say in the distance to Road Hog.

"$# %!" Merc shouted.

Coach drove up. "Here's what we're going to do guys. Breakout, I want you to trade places with me this time. It's been awhile since I've been on the field, but I have an idea that I think will work for us."

"Are you sure that's a good idea Coach?" Gizmo piped up.

" I know it's a good idea Gizmo!" Coach snapped. "Besides, I can't have my Breakout's fine body getting scratched. We have a long night planned ahead." He winked.

"Be careful!" Breakout said.

"I will."

Coach, Merc, and Gizmo took their positions on the arena. 3, 2, 1. The countdown ended and they all raced towards the ball. Coach jumped up into the air before hitting the center line to get a good idea of what the enemy team was doing. As he landed, he realized he'd made a critical mistake.

Backfire saw Coach in the air and anticipated where the car would land. This was an opportunity he couldn't afford to miss. But he had to make it look like an accident. Backfire threw on his boost and let his rockets fire.

Coach landed on the ground and braced himself for the impact, but he knew there was nothing he could do to save himself. Backfire rammed into coach. The explosion hit Breakout's windshield with such force that it almost shattered the glass. Oil, gas, coolant, and other fluids spilled across the field.

"Nooo!" Breakout screamed from the side of the field.

"OMG!" Gizmo yelled as he drove up. Coach's engine and body were mangled. The car was nearly unrecognizable.

Backfire wheeled around to look at his dastardly work and smirked. "Oops." He shouted. "Looks like it was an accident." He laughed to himself and drove off the field with Road Hog. He knew it would take awhile to clean up the mess Coach had left behind. He might get questioned by the Rocket League authorities, but accidents happened on the field—everyone knew that. He'd get away scot-free, and Team Nitro would be crippled. Beating them would be easy now.

Breakout drove onto the field to coach's mangled corpse and held him in his car doors. "Coach, can you hear me! Coach!"

The mangled wreck uttered something that Team Nitro would never forget. "Breakout….I…I love you."

"I know." Breakout cried. "I love you too Coach."

"We all love you." Merc said. "We wouldn't be here if it wasn't for you, coach."

"Promise me….promise me you'll win the Neo Tokyo Championships. You have to win it…you have to win it…for me. For…for your coach. Me. I'm…I'm your coach. And I'm also your lover Breakout"

"We will." Breakout cried. "We have to."

"We have to win for coach!" Gizmo said.

"Ughh….ughh….It's so…it's so cold." Coach said. "Breakout…keep me warm. Can you keep your coach warm…one last time before I die?"

"I can.' Breakout said. He drove up on top of Coach's smoldering wreckage and revved his engine.

"It feels…so good." Coach said as Breakout's engine rumbled against his trunk. "Thank you."

The car let out one last shudder and died. Rain poured down from the skies: the only place it could pour down from.

Alone in his garage with a half empty barrel of Ethanol, Breakout wept alone. They had to win. They had to win for Coach.


End file.
